#212: Why Your Toy Package Deserves More Than Matte with Anchor Creative

Are you giving your toy's package the attention and budget it deserves? If your answer isn't an immediate "Heck yes Azhelle, ALWAYS." then it's time to listen to part 2 of of Ivan and Brittany's interview on this podcast.

At the top of the episode, Ivan and Brittany share their secret on staying up to date with trends and spotting what's exciting in packaging. They remind us to step out of our comfort zones and to explore everything from boutique shelves to big-box stores to uncover what really makes packaging pop.

In the second half our our chat, this creative duo shares the packaging effects they feel are most overused and the packaging effects they feel are most underused in the toy market. Find out what your packaging might be saying about you and your brand, simply by the finish you choose.  Today, more than ever, it’s crucial to balance what looks good, what’s good for our planet, and what fits the budget. This chat with Anchor Creative isn’t just technical; it’s a call to think bigger and bolder about how we package our toys and games.

Finally once you're inspired to think bigger when it comes to packaging, this episode closes out with a clear walkthrough of what it's like to work with Anchor Creative and how you can get started today.


Can't Miss Moments:

• Retail Reconnaissance: Learning from Kids and Stores [00:01:00] - Find out how Ivan and Brittany use their family trips to stores as a real-time market research tool.
• The Eco-Friendly Packaging Conundrum [00:02:43] - Explore the complex world of sustainable packaging solutions and why eco-friendly packaging materials aren't your only options to reduce your carbon footprint.
• Gloss vs. Matte: A Packaging Debate [00:05:30] - What gloss and matte finishes say about your brand, and why one may be better than the other. 
• The Power of Pantone [00:06:30] - Uncover the potential and cost of using unique Pantone colors to make your packaging pop off the shelves. 

Mentioned In This Episode:
This episode is brought to you by Anchor Creative.

Visit thetoycoach.com/212 for the links mentioned in today's episode.

Transcript

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You are listening to making it in the toy industry episode number 212. Name a print effect that you think is overused in today's market. I think I know what you're going to say. Gloss. Or Matt. Whole thing. There's no effect. Like, when you don't do an effect, you, it shows that you didn't care much. And that you were on a budget. Hey there toy people Azhelle. Gel Wade here and welcome back to another episode of the toy coach podcast, making it in the toy industry. This is a weekly podcast and this week's episode is sponsored by anchor creative. Thank you so much, Brittany and Ivan for making this episode possible. And today we are going to resume our part two of our interview with Brittany and Ivan, the founders of anchor creative, we're diving right back into our packaging conversation. Let's pick up where we left off. So let's move on to packaging materials and trends. How do you stay up to date on market trends and packaging and design? Yeah, it's we have four kids. Sort of. We go to the stores all the time. Yeah, yeah. They're a huge benefit. Go to stores. Number one, we're already in stores anyways with tiny humans. So that's, that's number one. When you're doing the store research You know, go to a variety be in the realms that you're not comfortable in go to museum stores, go to unique bookstores. The larger Barnes and Noble bookstore, yes, but going to smaller ones as well. You know, specialty toy mom and pop stores to, to your big retail going to Costco and looking through the lens of package design at Costco. I mean, there's so many ideas, so many great materials, trends. Yeah, your big box stores are going to look completely different than target. And that's going to look completely different than what is at, a specialty boutique. And so hitting all of those big com large commerce, large big box stores, and then boutiques, and then into your specialty, your craft, your Joann's, your Michael's, I tell students in TCA to pay attention to what they see repeating, because there's so much in these stores. Like, what do you pay attention to? So I say, pay attention to what you see repeating, but what do you pay attention to when you're at these stores? We've our kids. I, that I honestly, like, they're, they're the consumer, there, why we I mean, why am I going to buy a toy, For anyone, but I'm going to buy a toy for them. So I'm going to ask them first. I'm also going to look and see what draws my eye. If, if the photography is good, if the logo is healthy, Favorite, favorite, favorite pastime. Love to watch people shop. Listen to their phone conversations. What are they saying about this product on the phone to the person they're buying it for? So another listener submitted a question asking about packaging materials, specifically eco friendly packaging materials. This year, everybody has been at least trying to remove plastic, which I'm sure you've seen in, in your requests remove plastic from their packaging and do more cardboard. But have you seen any other alternatives to better eco friendly packaging, whether it's material or structure or something? There's, it's not an easy like quick answer. I think that that's like your first thing. It's like one you have to know the heart of your client and you have to know their budget And I think that those two things like way into the balance of what you're going to source You have some clients that are going to want to go full blown gung ho all green There's there's no dyes on this. This is not there's it's not even whiteboard. It's it's core It's brown paper. It's like green, toys is a great example, but their, their product is also that, right? Like their product is made from like, and then you have, you can come down from that just slightly to be toys, right? be toys is made from recycled, Products and some of their packaging is recyclable, but they're using inks that are still bright and vibrant and, and present, right? So like it's good, better, best, right? Like you're going to find the place that your budget meets the availability meets what your manufacturer can do and your, your fulfillment and, and where your, your heart sits. Right. We have some people that want to print. In the United States only or in North America. And so, like, that has something to do with sustainability and eco friendly. Cause you're lowering your footprint into emissions as to like what's going out into the air. It's not even always about material. So if someone's thinking of working with you and they're saying, I want to do an eco friendly package, your response to them can also be, well, why do you want to do that eco friendly package? Are you just looking to reduce overall emissions? Because we have other options. Like you could just produce locally, and you could still have a printed package with, with normal inks and you're still reducing the carbon footprint that most companies have. Like you said, yeah. And and we, we might bring up that if you do not have the most eco-friendly packaging how can you design it? In a way from the, for the package design sake, not just the structure or the materials, but design it in a. Reusable way for play factor. So the child's imagination of taking an empty box anyway, and they're creating something amazing. But, you know, make that package design like there's one behind you, Brittany. The for South Beach Bubbles, we just completed their their grab and go kit. So on shelf, the wild, amazing grab and go, we'll sit up tall, You know, for your billboarding effect, for sales merchandising, but to, to use this pouch, the owners having the idea of okay, let's make the pouch be the buckets So that the. I have to have a separate bucket. So this pouch horizontally has a zipper. It's a, it's like a Ziploc kind of, a gusseted bottom. Yeah, it's a gusseted bottom. And so you can fit the liquid inside, you'd take it with you, and you can reuse it. and, And the wands fit in here and things like that. So the previous design did not have a sort of a reusable excitement like, level as far as it being an image. So we incorporated the visual, of the bucket, the illustration of it, and then, have an exciting looking, you know image of the bucket dip into. Last two questions in this topic of materials and print effects. What print effect do you think is underused and more packages would benefit from implementing? All right. So that a lot of these, they come with expense. But Pantone, unique Pantone choices. From neon to pastel, okay? I know many printers will promise to you, toy or game inventor, I can match that color with CMYK. I can do that. No, not always. but Brittany was holding up our package for Zumi, where we bought for an all spot color printing. So it has pant all over it. No, no, no process colors. And with that, you achieved an energy on shelf that is going to grab riots. And then that, back to color ownership, right? Being, I have a color that you own. There was like a pink I had in my old packaging when I worked at Creative Kids for their Be Me line, it was a pink or a green or both. I thought for one of the colors and you could see when we would print it with spot color versus a factory that would say, no, no, we can't do the spot color because it's gonna be too expensive. You, it just looked muddy. You know, it looks muddy. Yeah. the You don't get that vibrant feeling ivan, also loves spot gloss. I'M just, I'm gonna pull it, like, cause you just makes things look like it's it makes you shiny. It's wet. But it's good. You have to use it right, though. Like, you can't, like, I'm gonna make everything look wet. Like I have to, like It's, add? Is it normally add like 10 cents to a package? I know it depends on the surface area you It's, between five and 10 cents per package. Spot color? Spot color. I think that that goes a little bit higher Yeah. press run. Like you're you're going to add, you're going to add another, it's probably going to more like a 50 cent I think. The spot color or the spot gloss, it's still going to add incremental cost, but depending on your vendor, they might have some very unique printing processes that they're maybe not fronting. They're not talking about, but just by asking those questions. You, you, you put that pressure on them, you have them do what they do best and they can show Mm We found a lot of people are, are better with spot, with UV spot a gloss than they are with a fifth station for a panto color. and Yeah. Also, I've had people just straight up lie to me and say it's going to be a Pantone color and it wasn't and I was like, this is not a Pantone color. But anyway, I digress. Name a print effect that you think is overused in today's market. I think I know what you're going to say. Gloss. Or Matt. Whole thing. There's no effect. Like, when you don't do an effect, you, it shows that you didn't care much. And that you were on a budget. No, I'm sorry. I would, I would piggyback off of that. shrink shrink wrapping. Oh, well, When a package is shrink wrapped, I know sometimes you have to. we get it But the shrink wrap is the ultimate death of, you know. Oh, I had this really cool color I know and the, everything. see it, And then if, if the light hits it, yeah, the wrong way, you're like, yeah. Yeah, Yeah. makes me sad. So you need The inside, like, the inside if you want packaging that's going to stand out on the shelf, this percentage of your cost of goods should be dedicated to packaging You want to spend one to What, one to three Dollars? You're probably going to spend 2 minimum and then you may hit upwards of three to get some, some really good stuff. But I, I mean, I think that like, we're seeing the market change pricing right now. So I don't know if I'm quoting right. Well, so Much for that. I'm glad to have that conversation because I feel like people don't even know what they should be striving for. So it's good, good to put that out there. I have so much more we want to hit. You guys don't have to come back another time. So I want to get into our closing questions, unfortunately. What is Anchor Creative hoping to achieve one year from now? All right. So we're excited about the, the, the momentum leading up to this point has been you know having all the, the food and beverage toy and game industry and experience. We love our clients. We love investing the knowledge we have that we're just talking about during this podcast. It's our first podcast, by the way. But all of that knowledge that we have. We, we want to in the next year begin to more in a structural way, and, you know, your example, as you all said, I mean, it's, you're, you're inspiring to all of us. You, you, you encourage us to get, get it out, you know, get it out there and, and share all of that and not just be part of the projects that we do, which anytime you sign up with us, you're going to get. All of that knowledge you're going to get all those, those sharings and expertise, but but we're excited in the next year to grow in that way as a business. And then of course, you know, grow our, our team and, and experience. And my favorite question for my guests, What toy or game blew your mind as a kid? I loved Skip It, I couldn't figure out how it could count when it went around on your rotations. I was like, But how does it work? It, like blew my mind, right? Like, so that was, that was my, my I didn't know and I wanted to know, but I, cause I like to figure things out. So, and then I love Teddy Ruxpin. I thought that he was, like, wild, and, and it was so cool, and how does he record my voice? And, like, these were not the toys that I played with. These are just the toys that I thought were really, like, mind blowing, so. yeah, So This one Pogo Ball. If this would be, this ages me. I'm in, I'm in the older 80s. The earlier parts of the 80s. but uh, look at pogo ball Oh my goodness. It was revolutionary. I mean, the, the idea of balancing on this thing, jumping up and down. The colors they had and all these like you know, little decals you could put on them. workout video? I know! yeah, It was making exercise fun! So, you know, this, this one I actually dug into my memory banks for. So this wasn't like a really quick read or answer. But the next that's a big reveal. Wow! What? Oh, is that Masters of the Universe? Somebody else had said that one time. Oh, wow. I hadn't seen That package is as big as my house. Like, it's massive. If you talk about capturing my imagination and kids my age at that time. Just the, The extravagancy, the colors, the, I mean. the, The different characters that they had. This is Tongue Lasher. And just like the, the action feature coming out here. The tongue comes out. The tongue shoots out. The the world that was built that, that, you know, for myself that I could Wrap my arms around and have so many characters to, to have and, you know, and we'll play with. But but yeah. he, Man all the way. Love it. Brittany and Ivan, thank you so much for your time today Well, there you have it, toy people. That was my interview with Ivan and Brittany of Anchor Creative. Before we end today's episode, I want to take you through Anchor Creative's creative process because I believe in it. I've worked with a client through their process and I just love the way that they approach creating packaging for toys and games. So you're with me on YouTube, you are seeing me flip through the Anchor Creative lookbook so we've got to flip to the back of the flip book. Here's what to expect when you work with Anchor Creative to develop a package for your toy or game idea. They're going to take you through a three phase creative process. Phase one is called the anchored analysis. The anchored analysis phase is going to be a deep dive into your brand and your product line, as well as the applicable toy and game category competitors. In this phase, questions will arise like, does your current package design properly reflect your mission and vision? Or how does your current product or packaging design measure up against competitors? Does it stand out? Does it not ? At this stage, anchor will gather store analysis. They'll uncover design strategy and opportunities and develop mood boards that begin to articulate what design direction they will take. Now having gone through this process with anchor, with a client, this is where they are doing phase one market research for you. They're going into stores, and bringing back the research to show you what is happening in the toy market right now and ideas for how your product can stand out within it. After phase one is complete, Anchor Creative will take your project to phase two, which they call the creative power. In this phase, the anchor team is going to utilize the research, the creative strategies, the design aesthetics that you've both agreed on in phase one to deliver powerful creative solutions for you in phase two. In this phase, you can expect to get several distinct packaging concepts, all unique and ownable to the brand and you will see it mock tested on shelf amidst all the competitor products. In this phase, not only do you see ideas for your package developed, you also see them on shelf next to the competition. So choosing your packaging at this stage isn't just about what you like, what your favorite color is, what the style you think your brand should be , but it's about where your product is going to live on shelf. In this stage, Anchor is helping you make a really informed decision about how your product is visually going to stand up to the competition. Whether you're doing that work before you ever get into that retail store that you want to be in, or if you're doing that work because you already have a line in a retail store and you need to update it to make your product stand out in the next season. Now, the final phase of working with anchor creative is phase three and they call it the strong finish. This phase is all about production. It's all about bringing your unique concept to a life. The exciting creative concept that you have been working on with anchor for your packaging design might be done, but at this point, Anker will want to maintain communication with you. As a manufacturer, they know you're going to be getting multiple print samples of the packaging they designed. And at this point, it's important that you keep them in the loop for detailed reviews of all of your packaging proof samples. If you don't know, a packaging proof is a pre production sample of your packaging. So Anchor Creative wants to guide you through that whole process. Now, you might be thinking, Azhelle, what do you mean? What process? They give me the artwork files and I tell my factory to print it. But hang on. That's not the case. If you have special print effects, or if you're using Pantone colors, or if you're even using a very specific material to get a specific effect, This is where Anchor Creative wants to make sure you are getting exactly the design that they have developed for you and exactly the quality that they know is possible at this stage of the game. Well, there you have it, toy people. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Anchor Creative, if you would like to connect with Anchor Creative to help you with your next project, head over to thetoycoach. com forward slash 211, where you will see a link to connect with Anchor, to view their website, view their flip book, as well as to check out the video from our interview. I've got to give a huge shout out and thank you to those of you in the Toy Coach podcast, Making It In The Toy Industry fan club over on Facebook. We had questions in from Axel, from Chris, from Joanna. We had questions in from Marjorie, Aaron, Samantha. Thank you so much. Your questions helped to guide the conversation in this podcast episode. If you love this podcast and you haven't already left a review, what are you waiting for? Your reviews keep me coming back week after week 'cause this is hard work and it also inspires our guests to join us on the show today and share the insights that you appreciate so much in your reviews. So, as always, thank you so much for spending your time with us today. We know there are a ton of podcasts out there, so it truly means the world to us that you tune into this one until next week. I'll see you later toy people.